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Thanks. What’s the standard size the other side of 60mm? Is there a 62mm or 63mm standard?

Levers are irrelevant. It’s just to keep my kids out of my bedroom.

Yeah, that’s probably going to be easier, just annoying because I spent a bit of money on Corston to get everything matching everything, to the extent that my latch plates match my sockets and switches and handles. But I’m a bit OCD like that.

Very helpful this @Temp thank you. The trouble is I'm now trying to find a simple 2 lever mortice lock with a 60mm backset. Even upgrading to 3 lever doesn't open up many more choices.

Thanks, really appreciate your and everyone else’s support. I had a video call with the poor one armed chap. Explained my concerns. We agreed an action plan, and a day later he’s already in breach of the action plan. I kicked up a fuss and then his wife reminded me that he only just out of hospital. We agreed another action plan with the deliverable that was due yesterday now due on Monday. I will update you all on Monday evening.

Nope.

I am fitting a door handle to a door which comes with a 60mm "strong latch". This means that once the latch will be fitted, the centre of the threaded mortice spindle bar on which the handle is mounted is 60mm from the edge of the door. I would like a mortice lock which once fitted will have a keyhole that is in line with the spindle bar. What size mortice lock do i need?

Indeed! The contract requires a survey to be done and the goods to be delivered on site by a date in late March and then installed and complete by the end of March. They haven't breached those obligations yet...

No, they didn’t take credit card. My contract is with an individual that was recommended to me by someone who had worked with him before. I did a land registry search to check the person owned the property that appears on their ID (which I asked for before sending the money) and they do, so there is scope for taking legal action if necessary and enforcing against the property. But I can’t sue yet as technically there hasn’t been breach of contract yet. Just a big fat likelihood of a breach. Hate this.

So I had a chat, and it’s really very tricky to know who to believe. The guy I have a contract with (let’s call him Vlad) tried to subcontract the work to someone else (let’s call him Boris). Boris came to my house did a survey, talked the talk, then contacted me a couple of days later to say that Vlad was about to go bankrupt and I should cut my losses and enter into a new contract with Boris directly. I spoke to Vlad and he tells me Boris is a liar and is trying to steal clients from him. It really is a right old mess I’m in…

Yes, but drawer fronts is a different consideration.

Looks interesting. But in terms of my question, can I put doors and drawer fronts on temporarily and then swap them out in a few years? Or will that damage the carcasses?

Towards the end of last year I paid a very hefty 5 figure sum as a deposit for quite a lot of joinery that we are having done in our house. The joiner I contracted with said he needed the deposit to buy the redwood and walnut that he was going to use for our house. About 3 weeks later the joiner apparently had an accident that resulted in him having to have surgery on his arm, which then got infected resulting in amputation. His brother took over his business (even though he is not a joiner) and I have been liaising with him since. Because I’m too nice, since I found out about the accident, I’ve been patient and understanding on the basis that it is not a one man band, but actually a workshop of several joiners and at this late stage in the build I didn’t think I had many options to find another joinery given it had been so difficult to find one in the first place. I thought the decent thing to do was give the family a chance to get back on their feet. I also thought that at least this joinery had used my deposit to buy the wood, thereby locking in the material price before further inflation. One month on from the accident, I’m starting to lose patience. They have stood me up 4 times, agreeing to attend my house to “take final measurements” and then never showing. I will probably have to sue the guy to get my deposit back, but just wondering how I make my house liveable in, in the meantime. With DIY Kitchens carcasses (which is what I have) is it fairly straightforward to install temporary doors and drawer fronts, with something very cheap, and then swap those out for the bespoke ones we are having made in the future? Or do they have to be glued to the carcass meaning carcass would probably get damaged when subsequently unglued?

That’s funny, the only two stoves I have experience of are Nestor Martins, both have been fantastic: the one at my dad’s place is 12 years old. I think it was the Nestor Martin Harmony range. Because it’s made of cast iron (I think) it takes about 45 to 60 minutes to get warm, but then stays hot for long after it’s been turned off. There are lighter stoves (I think made of steel) that warm up and cool down quicker. we’ve gone for a Dik Guerra Bora this time, though not delivered yet.

Yes, conscious it will rust, but that's the beauty of it. The only thing it might stain is the cobblestones on which it will be erected. Do you think those could be cleaned though? Other alternative is to buy it already rusted, but I expect that is much more expensive.

My builder is building some parapet walls which will house some flower beds. This is to be erected on a sloped driveway, but the wall will be flat at the top, so the walls will be taller at the bottom of the slope and shorter at the top. We are then going to wrap a sheet of corten steel around this and somehow fix it to the walls, I guess just with steel bolts. Has anybody done any DIY projects with corten steel sheeting? Is it easy to work with, and what thickness sheeting did you use?

No, we are seriously moving in within 4-5 weeks.

Knock the house down and start again. That’s what I often wish I had done with my 1930s semi…

Am I allowed to bet on her? If so, yes let's take bets.

The cabling is in place, but it is just Cat6 cable, with no RJ45 plugs at the moment. My electrician offered to do the setup for me for £300 but that seemed a bit much to me. But I don't really know how much work is involved as a lot of people here have given me the impression it is really technical to get a ubiquity system up and running. (I'm in London, so London prices.)

what is a reasonable cost to pay to have one of these systems set up. All wiring is in place, so would be a case of installing two or three APs, a switch so they can receive PoE, and then configuring them to work?

well to achieve this kind of interior you really need to design (and build) it in at the outset. E.g. as @nod commented above, the substrate for decorative plaster has to be perfect. To give you some other examples, we have a lot of curved walls and the bulk head in the ceiling between the original house and the extended part (which conceals the RSJ) is also curved. To achieve those curves one needs to build out frames before plaster boarding, so there is a lot of “interior” design which is rooted in the fabric of the building. Another example is floor finishes. If you want different floor finishes in different rooms, but you want them to be flush at their junction, you need to plan ahead with the screed pour so that it is poured to slightly different heights either side of the junction. The list is endless. Yes, I just assumed she would be fine with it as we have the tiles on the adjacent wall, so I didn’t think it was such a drastic change. Here is a photo of that wall: If I ran every detail and decision by her, we’d never get the house done. Most other things I’ve decided solo she has been very happy about. But I guess this was one detail of design change that she wanted to be consulted on.

I think @Bitpipe might have had a similar challenge with his Lusso stone bath. I’ve bought the same bath as him, and will have to deal with this challenge next week…

Well this is what I’ve done. But it’s not gone down well. Maybe I should just stick to my guns.

We are using decorative clay plaster. It isn't painted, just left nude after a bit of polishing with a water atomiser and a cloth. So although it's more expensive than normal plaster, it saves a lot of money in not needing any painting. It is only meant to be applied 1mm to 1.5mm thick, directly onto plasterboard. My architect thinks we could plaster over the tiles but we would still get see the outline of each tile and the shape of the tile's surface (which is not smooth at all as these are unglazed zellige which are all wonky; each one is completely different to the other in terms of shape and overall dimension - part of their "rustic" charm).